Managing Love and Discipline for Toddlers

This post is a part of series that I will write  related to my initial hub ‘Managing Love and Discipline for toddlers’. It stated 10 rules for effective parenting and today’s post will discuss the second  rule in detail.

RULE 2 - DISCIPLINE: Set basic ground-rules or as I call it make a ‘Discipline Strategy’

Parenting is a tough responsibility but it also has its own precious rewards. We all come across a point where we just want to hide somewhere, away from all the chaos in our parenting world. Once our adorable little bundle of joy’s grow up into active little warriors, things often become stressful managing our happy homes.

As much as I love my little daughter and feel proud of her streak of independence and logical abilities, I will admit that at times I wish she would just follow  my orders without bombarding me with a thousand questions J)) ( The bigger secret is that I don’t even feel guilty about wishing this).

But most of the times things move pretty smoothly, thanks to my ‘discipline strategy’. I feel every  home should have something similar to this and believe me you don’t have to be a MBA to make one. Just make a set of basic rules that need to be followed and make it well known to your kids.

All the grown-up’s in the family should agree to uphold the set rules. Any disagreement will only turn your happy home into a political battleground. Kids have strong observation powers and I will recommend not to underestimate their political skills. Our charming little toddlers are fully equipped to exploit such a situation and get away without following any discipline rules.

Every few days my little girl tries to convince me that her dad/grandma/grandpa has allowed her to break some of the house rules J)) Smart huh!!! and I have been fooled quite a few times by her innocent voice and sweet smile.

Some Tips

-       These rules should pertain to ensuring basic health of your kids eg. food, hygiene, manners play, TV etc

-       If there is something you want done every-day, communicate it as a rule so that your spirited little one does not waste his/her energy fighting it every time.

-       There is no point making a rule if it cannot be consistently upheld. So don’t make a rule like “ in the bed by 8pm” if your schedules make it sometimes impossible to do it. But you can make a rule like “watch TV only after morning routine and breakfast is done” as it has enough flexibility for easy implementation.

-       Once we make the rules, we should sit down with our kids and communicate the reasons behind it. This helps to build trust and eventually helps in faster adoption of our discipline policy. The ‘Why’ is equally important as ‘What” when it comes to discipline.

Some of my rules

MANNERS - “ We will not respond if you shout/cry and ask for something”, “Replying back will create a time-out” , “ Misbehaving in shopping stores – no shopping for her goodies till the next trip”

FOOD - “Eat at least one serving of whatever food is cooked each day, Crying will add one more serving to your plate” ,

TV -  “Watch only two cartoons on a school day .”,  “ On weekends watch TV only after finishing morning routine and breakfast – no exceptions”

Setting up these basic guidelines prepares our toddlers for the expected outcomes, conditions their behavior and makes parenting less stressful.  We don’t want to argue over the same things every day. Consistency , communication and lots of love has helped me spend less time arguing with my daughter for day-to-day activities.

Our family time is precious and we should work towards spending it more and more on fun filled activities. Happpy parenting!